Remaining cool in situations is an art

Though models are known to have perfected the art of ramp walking in their stilettos, accidents do occur. At the Seagram Blender’s Pride Magical Night tour fashion show in Pune recently, one of the top models from the fashion fraternity, Carol Gracias, tripped over her flowing gown while walking down the stairs.

However, before the shutterbugs could zoom in with their cameras to capture the embarrassing tumble, the ace model managed to get up and complete the ramp walk with a smile. They do not call them ace models for nothing.

Self-praise is not marketing!
It is unbelievable how pompous some marketing people can get. Some of them get so carried away, that they even end up promoting themselves, rather than the company they represent. Recently, we had the misfortune of talking to one such marketing person.

He began by speaking of himself and his impending stardom. “You won’t believe this now, but I am going to be huge in this country. You will see. People will know me and call me everywhere. The coverage my company gets is only because of me. You better save my number in your cellphone. It will help you when I will become big.” A classic case of self-aggrandisement?

Tit for Tat
A colleague was being bothered by persistent tele-callers from his mobile phone company. They wanted him to convert his pre-paid connection to a post-paid one. Although our colleague politely declined the offer, the tele-callers persisted. Exasperated with the nuisance, our colleague decided to get smart.

He posed the tele-caller a question: ‘Do you wish to visit Shirdi or Kashi tomorrow?’ When the perplexed tele-caller replied in the negative, our colleague said, “As you see no reason to go on a pilgrimage, I too, do not want a post-paid connection.” That clinched the argument.

Let’s be ashamed of black money
A certain Shri Kulkarni (name changed) wanted to sell his 1,200 square-foot apartment and was approached by one of our friends for negotiations. Shockingly, he wanted Rs25 lakh (50% of the total amount) in cash. When our middle-class friend protested and said, “How can a salaried person produce Rs25 lakh in cash, sir?” Kulkarni agreed that this was a problem, but did not budge from his demand. The transaction did not take place.

If just one middle-class transaction can generate so much black money in one corner of Pune, think of what is happening all over the country. Why blame politicians, builders and businessmen alone? Our entire society is responsible for generating black money. So what should we do with Shri Kulkarni? Report him to the income tax department?

Food for thought
Tired of the usual dal-roti-sabzi routine, our colleague decided to have a Continental meal cooked up at home one Sunday evening. With this in mind, he shopped for everything from olive oil, vinegar, salad vegetables to pizza base, mozzarella cheese and Basil pesto, and ended up burning a hole in his pocket.

Hours later, the meal was ready. However, at dinner time, our colleague realised that only he was enjoying the fare. His family was barely nibbling at their food. Our chastened colleague said, “I realised I was pushing my writ on the family. Next time, I should introduce only one Western dish along with the dal-roti-sabzi combination.” It pays to be democratic, even at home.

Commuter wit
Thinking on your feet is an art. We were travelling by a PMPML bus from Nigdi to Pune the other day, when the conductor asked the girl seated next to us where she wanted to go. The girl said, “Deccan” and the conductor gave her a ticket. The girl responded by showing her bus pass. An argument ensued between the girl and the conductor.

The conductor maintained that as he had issued the ticket, she would have to buy it. He said he had no other way of accounting for them. Not to be outdone, the girl told the conductor, “You keep the ticket. No harm in you travelling with a ticket one day!”

With inputs from Priyanka Naithani, Renuka Deshpande, Partha Sarathi Biswas, Abhay Vaidya, Rajesh Rao and Archana Dahiwal.